Hillia

The Hillian People's Republic

Type	Nation
Government	Socialist Parliamentary Republic
Location	Osugbo
Inhabiting Race	Human

The Hillian People's Republic, formerly known as East Hills, is a socialist parliamentary republic on the continent of Osugbo bordering the Noman Federation. Since the revolution, Hillia has emerged from decades of isolation to become a nation defined by scientific progress, international cooperation, and hope for the future.  

About

The Hillian People's Republic, formerly known as East Hills, occupies the eastern reaches of Osugbo and stands as one of the Known World's youngest and most optimistic nations. Following the Hillian Revolution, the republic emerged from decades of authoritarian rule determined to build a society founded upon cooperation, public investment, scientific discovery, and the belief that the prosperity of a nation should be shared by all who contribute to it.

In the years since the revolution, Hillia has transformed itself through an ambitious program of reconstruction. Railways once neglected by the Regime have been modernized, roads and bridges restored, hospitals and schools expanded, and public utilities extended to communities long overlooked. Rather than directing the nation's wealth toward military expansion or the accumulation of state power, successive governments have prioritized infrastructure, education, healthcare, scientific research, and cultural institutions, viewing these investments as the foundation of a stronger society.

This renewal has been accompanied by a profound change in the country's relationship with the wider world. After generations of isolation, Hillia has opened its borders to international trade, scholarship, tourism, and cultural exchange. Foreign artists, engineers, scientists, educators, and students are now common sights in the republic's major cities, while Hillian universities and research institutes actively collaborate with partners across the Known World. Humanitarian assistance from organizations such as the Ascendancy has also been welcomed, though the republic maintains a clear constitutional separation between religion and the affairs of state.

The arrival of new ideas has reshaped Hillian culture. Foreign cinema, literature, music, theater, cuisine, and sport have flourished alongside longstanding Hillian traditions, creating an atmosphere of curiosity and optimism unlike anywhere else in Osugbo. Young Hillians, many of whom grew up after the fall of the Regime, have embraced this exchange with remarkable enthusiasm, viewing international cooperation not as a threat to national identity but as one of its greatest strengths.

Few projects embody this spirit more clearly than the Unity Games, founded in Vostroya as an international celebration of peaceful competition, and the revitalized Hillian Space Agency, whose civilian mission has become a powerful symbol of humanity's shared future. Together, they represent the ideals that have come to define modern Hillia. Nations need not compete through war, scientific discovery belongs to everyone, and the future is best built through cooperation rather than conflict.

Yet the republic's remarkable progress has not erased its past. Across Hillia, abandoned military installations, forgotten laboratories, and sealed government archives remain as reminders of the Regime that once ruled the nation. Beneath its cities lie even older secrets. Vast Vaelonic ruins have begun to challenge long-held assumptions about history itself. As Hillia looks confidently toward the future, the ancient past beneath its feet has begun to stir once more.

History

Like every nation on Quelmar, much of Hillia's earliest history has been lost to time. Records predating the Fracturing of the Weave are fragmentary, contradictory, and often indistinguishable from folklore. The civilizations that once occupied the region, the causes of their decline, and much of humanity's earliest history have disappeared from collective memory. Scholars generally agree that these gaps in the historical record coincide with an ancient turning point, likely an extinction-level event that humanity only narrowly survived. Even this event endures today as little more than scattered myth, incomplete archaeological evidence, and obscure academic theory.

What is known is that the lands now comprising Hillia have long been home to farming communities, mining settlements, industrial cities, and centers of learning. Beneath many of these settlements lie the buried ruins of the ancient Vaelonic civilization, whose monumental architecture and seemingly impossible engineering continue to puzzle archaeologists. For centuries these ruins were regarded as little more than the remains of a forgotten people, their true significance obscured by the same historical amnesia that erased so much of Quelmar's distant past.

During the early decades of the Current Reckoning, political instability, economic hardship, and a catastrophic flood that devastated much of East Hills created widespread social unrest. As the nation struggled to recover, growing international tensions and domestic uncertainty paved the way for the rise of an authoritarian government that would become known simply as the Regime. Promising security, stability, and national unity, the new government steadily centralized power, restricted civil liberties, censored public discourse, and isolated East Hills from the rest of the Known World. Scientific advancement continued under the Regime, but increasingly served military and state interests rather than the public good. Massive resources were devoted to classified research, strategic stockpiles, surveillance, and the expansion of internal security while public infrastructure and civic institutions gradually fell into neglect.

The Regime's rise to power culminated in the invasion of Noma and the outbreak of the Great No Man's War in 27 CR. For three years, war engulfed the continent of Osugbo as East Hills brought recovered Vaelonic technology and magick to bear against the industrial innovation and technological ingenuity of the Noman Federation. The conflict became one of the bloodiest wars in modern history, leaving devastation across both nations and profoundly reshaping the political landscape of the continent.

East Hills ultimately emerged defeated. The nation never fully recovered from the economic hardship, political instability, and international isolation that followed the war. Despite the loss, the Regime maintained its grip on power for more than a decade, relying on propaganda, surveillance, and increasingly repressive measures to preserve its authority. By 38 CR, years of hardship had eroded what little legitimacy remained. Workers, students, academics, artists, engineers, soldiers, and ordinary citizens united in a nationwide uprising that became known as the Hillian People's Revolution, bringing an end to the Regime and marking the birth of the Hillian People's Republic.